Kostas Choumis (Greek: Κώστας Χούμης, Romanian: Constantin "Costică" Humis, born 20 November 1913 in Piraeus, Greece – deceased 20 July 1981 in Athens) was a Greek-Romanian football player who played as a striker. He is often regarded in Greece and Romania as one of the greatest strikers in the 1930s.[3]

Kostas Choumis
Personal information
Full name Konstantinos Choumis
Date of birth (1913-11-20)20 November 1913
Place of birth Piraeus, Kingdom of Greece
Date of death 20 July 1981(1981-07-20) (aged 67)
Place of death Athens, Greece
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1929–1933 Ethnikos Piraeus
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1933–1936 Ethnikos Piraeus
1936–1946 Venus București
1946 Rapid București
1947 IT Arad 1 (0)
1947–1950 Karres Mediaş
1950 IT Arad 0 (0)
International career
1934–1936 Greece[1] 9 (8)
1941–1943 Romania[2] 2 (1)
Managerial career
Egaleo
Ethnikos
1966 PAS Giannina
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career edit

Kostas Choumis made his senior debut in 1933, playing for Ethnikos Piraeus, a team from his hometown. Shortly after his debut, he became a certainty for the starting lineup. He won the South Division championship with Ethnikos Piraeus in 1934–1935 season, scoring 15 goals in 10 matches.[4] The National Championship was not held in 1934–1935 season, but the next year it was played, and Choumis became the top scorer of the league, with 12 goals scored in 14 matches.[4]

In 1936, Kostas moved to Romanian club Venus București, after scoring two goals against Romania a year earlier. He played his first match in Divizia A against Telefoane București.[5]

He remains in history as the first scorer for a Romanian team in the European competitions, scoring the first goal of Venus București in the first round of 1937 Mitropa Cup, against Ujpest FC from Hungary. The match was lost by Venus, 4–6, with Choumis scoring also the last goal of the Romanian team.[6]

Kostas Choumis won three times the Divizia A champion title, but did not win the Romanian Cup. He played in the last three matches of the 1940 Romanian Cup final, when, after two replays of the final (in the first replay, ended 4-4, Kostas Choumis scored himself two goals) Rapid București won the third replay and the final.[7]

He remained at Venus during World War II but left in 1946 to play for Rapid București.[8] He played at Rapid only half of a season, afterwards moving at IT Arad, where he played just one game but won the championship.[8][9] In 1947 he went to play at Karres Mediaş, where he played a season along Ştefan Dobay.[10] He played for the Mediaş-based team until 1950, and, after a short spell at IT Arad, he retired from the playing career.[10]

International career edit

Kostas Choumis made his debut for the Greece national football team in December 1934, in a Balkan Cup match against Yugoslavia.[11] A few days later, in a match against Romania, Kostas scored his first international goal.[11]

In the 1935 Balkan Cup, he scored two braces, the first against Bulgaria and the second against Romania, caughting the eye of the Romanian club Venus București with the later; however, his efforts were in vain as Greece failed to win either game, losing 2-5 and drawing 2-2 respectively.[11] In the following edition of the Balkan Cup, he again scored a brace against Bulgaria, to bring his total tally in the Balkan Cup up to 7 goals, which means he is among the all-time top goal scorers in the competition's history.

In his last match for Greece, he scored the only goal for his team in Cairo, but the Greeks lost the game against Egypt.[11]

In 1941, after five years of living in Romania, Kostas made his debut for Romania, in a match against Slovakia.[11] He scored the first goal for The Tricolours, and Romania won 3–2.[11]

His last international match came in June 1943, playing another match against Slovakia. The match ended as a draw, 2-2.[11]

International Goals edit

Goals for Greece edit

Greece score listed first, score column indicates score after each Choumis goal.
List of international goals scored by Kostas Choumis[11]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 27 December 1934 Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Athens, Greece   Romania 2–2 2–2 1934-35 Balkan Cup
2 16 June 1935 Unak Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria   Bulgaria 1–0 2–5 1935 Balkan Cup
3 2–5
4 24 June 1935 Levski Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria   Romania 1–0 2–2
5 2–0
6 21 May 1936 ONEF Stadium, Bucharest, Romania   Bulgaria 2–3 4–5 1936 Balkan Cup
7 2–3
8 19 June 1936 Muhammad Ali Stadium, Cairo, Egypt   Egypt 1–1 1–3 Friendly

Goals for Romania edit

Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Humis goal.
List of international goals scored by Constantin Humis[11]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 October 1941 ANEF Stadium, Bucharest, Romania   Slovakia 1–1 3–2 Friendly

Honours edit

Club edit

Ethnikos Piraeus

  • Greek South Division Championship (1): 1934–35

Venus București

UTA Arad

International edit

Greece

Balkan Cup:

Individual edit

References edit

  1. ^ Kostas Choumis' caps and goals for Greece national football team
  2. ^ "Evidence of Constantin Humis' appearances for Romania national football team". Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  3. ^ "Fotbaliști care au evoluat sub tricolor, dar s-au născut în afara granițelor României" [Footballers who evolved under the tricolor, but were born outside the borders of Romania] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Evidence of Kostas Humis' appearances and goals for Ethnikos". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  5. ^ Mihai Ionescu, Mircea Tudoran Fotbal de la A la Z : Fotbalul mondial de-a lungul anilor, Bucharest: Editura Sport-Turism, 1988
  6. ^ Venus - Ujpest, 1937 @ Romaniansoccer.ro
  7. ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1939 - 1940". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Kostas Choumis profile". Labtof. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Primul străin naturalizat din istoria naţionalei României! Costică Humis, grecul care a jucat sub tricolor" [The first naturalized foreigner in the history of the Romanian national team! Costica Humis, the Greek who played under the tricolor] (in Romanian). Fanatik.ro. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Kostas Choumis". European Football. Retrieved 8 May 2021.

External links edit